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Kirigiri Kyoko wasn’t a morning person, she hid it well of course - through endless cups of coffee and generally avoided anyone before eight o’clock. In fact, she was almost positive that nobody knew about her general distaste of mornings - her secret being safe even throughout the ‘mutual killing game’.
She let out a little yawn, before closing her tired eyes. Pulling an all-nighter for the third time in the row can’t possibly be helping either.
“Morning, Kirigiri-san!” A cheerful voice says, echoing throughout the room. ‘Well, almost everyone’ Kirigiri thought as she turned around, smiling at the young man who entered the room.
“Good morning, Naegi-kun.” She greeted, she’ll never tell anyone, but looking at him allowed a surge of energy to shoot through her body - it made her feel inspired, determined - it made her feel hope.
“I’ve got your coffee for you, this time it’s a plain dark roast.” Naegi said, passing her the warm cup of coffee - watching as she took a small sip from the coffee. “Is it alright, Kirigiri-san?”
Kirigiri smiled at him, “It’s perfect, Naegi-kun, thank you.”
Naegi glanced around the room, Kirigiri’s office was always well organised and tidy and he couldn’t help but wonder how she managed to keep it so clean with her busy schedule. Turning back to the woman, he frowned - he never noticed it when he gave her her coffee but Kirigiri-san definately looked tired, her pale complexion was even paler than usual, her eyes were drooping, as if she was going to fall asleep, he heard Kirigiri sigh before watching her take a large sip of coffee.
“You can’t go on like this, Kyoko…” Naegi said with a sigh.
“What do you mean, Naegi-kun?” Kirigiri asked, a bit startled that Naegi called her by her first name.
“I might not be a detective, but it’s pretty obvious that you pulled an all-nighter last night.” Naegi said gesturing towards Kirigiri’s desk. “Stacks of paper on the desk and three empty paper cups with traces of coffee in them. Put it together with the fact your skin is paler than usual and you look like you want to fall asleep, it’s pretty obvious that you pulled an all-nighter - again.”
Kirigiri smiled, “That was a good deduction, Naegi-kun, you did well - I did pull an all-nighter last night, but I’m fine.”
Naegi frowned, “Don’t change the topic, Kyoko, you really need to rest - it’s not healthy.”
“That’s incredibly unnecessary, Naegi-kun, I’m fine. After all, I am the branch head - what will everyone else think if I went home to rest?”
“But that’s not -”
“What’s going on here?”
Naegi and Kirigiri turned around, “Togami-san!” Naegi greeted with a smile, “Kirigiri and I were just talking - she pulled an all-nighter last night and refuses to go home and rest.”
“Is that so?” Togami asked, pushing up the frame of his glasses, “As much as your work ethic is admired, you shouldn’t take your health so lightly, it’ll be easier for people to overtake you that way.”
“I’m fine, and even if I did choose to go home and rest, there would be nobody to take over my position, and I certainly cannot let that happen.”
“You don’t have anything going on today, right?” Togami asked.
“Huh?”
“Do not let me repeat myself,” Togami said, crossing his arms, “Just answer my question.”
“No… I do not have anything going on today.” Kirigiri said, before looking at Togami with a questioning glare, “Why do you ask?”
Togami let out a sigh, “I’ll take over for today then, you should go back and rest - I assume that all the paperwork has been done.”
Kirigiri sighed, “Like I said before - I’m fine, Naegi-kun was merely over exaggerating.”
“Naegi-kun, you take the day off too, ensure she is well rested by tomorrow.”
“Uhh… Sure.”
“What are you waiting for then? Scram.”
Naegi grabbed Kirigiri’s hand before turning to Togami, “We’ll be off then.” He said before dragging Kirigiri out, making sure she had no time to protest.
As soon as they were out of sight, Togami let out a sigh. They better use this time that he gave them to sort out their feelings for each other, otherwise he doubts that he’ll be able to survive another day in the same room as them.
“There was no need for that, Naegi-kun, like I’ve said before I could’ve handled today.” Kirigiri said, reluctantly letting go of their laced fingers.
Naegi smiled, “It’s Makoto since we’re out of work now, Kyoko.” He said with a smile, brushing away her hair, “Your fringe is getting long, you’ll need to get it cut.”
Kirigiri smiled, “I’ve been planning to get it cut, but I can’t seem to find the time off work.”
“Well, we’ve got time now.” Naegi said with a smile, “And there’s a salon nearby.”
“I can cut it by myself, Makoto.” Kirigiri replied easily, “Although, I would much rather go back to my apartment and have a little rest first.”
Naegi smiled, before raising an eyebrow.
“So you do admit that you were being incredibly impractical with the amount of all-nighters you were doing.”
Kirigiri smiled, “I said no such thing, Makoto-kun. I only left the office willingly to get some rest so that I could work some more later on.”
Naegi stopped at his tracks and turned back to Kirigiri, pulling her close and looking at her dead straight into her eyes. “You can’t do that, Kyoko.” He said seriously.
“Makoto-kun?” Kirigiri muttered questioningly, heat rushing through her cheeks. “What are you doing?”
“It’s not healthy, Kyoko.” He said, more seriously this time. “I’m worried that something might happen to you.”
“I’m fine, Makoto.” Kirigiri said, avoiding his gaze, “After all, this is the least I can do - for all our fallen classmates, for the survivors, and… and for my father - after all, despair never rest, and neither should I.”
Naegi sighed in defeat, “Well then, from here onwards, I’ll accompany you for all your all-nighters.”
“That’s not necessary, Makoto-kun.” Kirigiri quickly replied.
“It is!” Naegi said determinedly, “If despair never rest, than neither should I - I am the Ultimate Hope after all.”
Kirigiri rolled her eyes, “And how will that end up solving our problems? We’ll just end up with two tired senior members.”
“Well, we both will have to rest then.” Naegi said firmly.
Kirigiri rolled her eyes, “You’re incredibly stubborn, you know?”
Naegi shrugged, “I suppose that that is my other redeeming quality, besides my optimism of course.”
Kirigiri smiled, before leaning in to hug Naegi.
“Kyoko?” Naegi muttered, his cheeks heating up, “What… what are you doing?”
“Thank you,” She muttered, placing a light kiss on his cheeks.
“Thank you for what?” Naegi said, holding her closer. “You do everything, I’m not able to do half the things you do, you’re amazing, you know?”
Kirigiri shook her head, “I don’t think you understand, Makoto, you do so much more than that. You give me, no, you give everyone so much hope. I can pull an all-nighter for three days in a row, and whenever I see you, a surge of energy just motivates me to keep on going. You remind me of the hopes I carry, and whenever I feel like I’m sinking in the weight of them, it’s you who pulls me back up. After all, you’ve got the hope of everybody on your shoulders, not just our classmates and the other survivors, you carry the hopes of all of us, but you still stand tall, strong and as optimistic as ever. And I can’t help but thank you for that.”
“You’re wrong… Kyoko.” Naegi muttered with a smile, “You give me hope too, you know? No matter how bad the days are, no matter how horrible the nightmares are, you drag me back on the ground. You give me something to fight for, so I suppose you carry my hopes as well.”
Kirigiri smiled, releasing herself from Naegi’s grasp, “Well, what are we supposed to do now? You carry my hopes and I carry yours - I wonder who’s actually carrying who.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Naegi said, lacing their hands together. “Because in the end, we’ll both carry each other.”
The world might be in chaos, but they were together. And that was all they ever needed.
Omake
“It seems like they were having a lengthy discussion in the park.” Togami muttered, as he took a sip of coffee.
“They seem really close didn’t they?” Asahina muttered in agreement, “Naegi-kun and Kyoko sure are moving fast.”
Togami let out an annoyed ‘tsk’, “More like slowly, I’ve seen both of them glance at each other so much that I can probably draw you a better picture than all the artists my family used to hire for the professional portraits.”
“That often, huh?”
“Anyways, I hope that get their feelings sorted do I don’t have to deal with this ever again.”
“Don’t worry, Togami-chi!” Hagakure said with a smile, “With my 30% accuracy rate, Naegi-chi and Kirigiri-chi will not be coming in for work tomorrow. They’ll be busy with other things, if ya get what I’m saying.”
Tomagi frown in disgust, “I would prefer if you stop speaking in such a crude manner, Hagakure.”
“~30% accuracy rate, Togami-chi, 30%!~”
Needless to say, Naegi and Kirigiri never did go to work the next day.